astronomy

Harry Edwin Wood

Harry Edwin Wood is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Harry Edwin Wood rather than just read about it. In short: Harry Edwin Wood (3 February 1881 – 27 February 1946) was an English astronomer, director of the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, and discoverer of minor planets. Wood was born in Manchester, graduating from Manchester University in 1902 with first class honours in physics, going on to gain an MSc in 1905.

Key takeaways

Harry Edwin Wood belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Harry Edwin Wood to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Harry Edwin Wood from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Harry Edwin Wood (3 February 1881 – 27 February 1946) was an English astronomer, director of the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, and discoverer of minor planets. Wood was born in Manchester, graduating from Manchester University in 1902 with first class honours in physics, going on to gain an MSc in 1905. In 1906 he was appointed the Chief Assistant at the Transvaal Meteorological Observatory, which soon acquired telescopes and which became known as the Union Observatory and later Republic Observatory. In July 1906, he established South Africa's first 24-hour weather forecasts through telegraph in the Transvaal. In 1909, he married Mary Ethel Greengrass, also a physics graduate of Manchester University. Wood served as the observatory's director from 1928 to 1941, succeeding Robert Innes. He also served as the president of the Astronomical Society of South Africa from 1929 to 1930. Wood is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 12 numbered asteroids during 1911–1932. He died in Mortimer, near Cradock, South Africa, in 1946. The asteroid 1660 Wood, discovered by his colleague Jacobus Bruwer at Johannesburg, is named in his honour (M.P.C. 3297).

See also List of minor planet discoverers

References

External links Hockey, Thomas (2014). "Wood, Harry Edwin". Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. pp. 2373–2374. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_9158. ISBN 978-1-4419-9916-0. Biography of Harry Edwin Wood at the S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Harry Edwin Wood

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Harry Edwin Wood claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Harry Edwin Wood before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Harry Edwin Wood ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Harry Edwin Wood

In research: Harry Edwin Wood appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Harry Edwin Wood in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Harry Edwin Wood is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1881 births, 1946 deaths, 20th-century British astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Harry Edwin Wood outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Harry Edwin Wood in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Harry Edwin Wood means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Harry Edwin Wood out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Harry Edwin Wood in simple terms?

Why does Harry Edwin Wood matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Harry Edwin Wood?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Harry Edwin Wood.